My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
In the galleries of prints (accessed by clicking the links immediately below) I am also adding fresh images offered for sale. If you get lost in the maze of links, simply click the "home" button to return to the blog discussions.

Condition: crisp impression trimmed
within the platemark and remargined with a support sheet of archival
(millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this pair of original
etchings by William Unger for AU$200 (currently US$147.53/EUR126.49/GBP113.10 at
the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in
the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some
countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this
pair of self-portrait etchings by Unger, please contact me
(oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make
the payment easy.

These prints have been sold

For those wondering about the portrayed
technique of the artist adding a layer of soot to his etching plate so that he—I
believe that this is a self-portrait of William Unger—will be able to see the
gleam of copper through blackened etching ground when it is inscribed, I have
extracted the following instructions by George T Plowman (1914) from his
amazingly clear treatise, “Etching and Other Graphic Arts” (New York, John Lane
Company):

“To smoke the plate use a bundle of
twisted wax tapers. Let the plate get cold before smoking on account of the
danger of burning the ground. In smoking, hold the plate face downward by the
hand-vise high above the head Pass quickly backward and forward the lighted
tapers. Be careful to smoke the edges. The centre will get enough smoke in
covering the edges. Be very careful not to burn the ground either by stopping
too long in one place or getting the taper too near the plate. The flame, but
not the wick, should touch the ground. A little practise will enable the
beginner to get a beautiful, dull back surface, like polished ebony, all over
the plate. If you find any parts that are not smooth and are grey and shiny,
the ground has been burned, and you must wash it all off with turpentine and
begin again, since burned ground will not resist the acid.” (Plowman, pp.
89–90).